The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

Every country has the government it deserves.

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.